New Years 2014

New Years was spent with our neighbors and a fondu dinner. The kids enjoyed attempting to eat a HUGE chocolate bar and then celebrated New Years - east coast time even though they were still up at midnight. Brooke, true to form, rang in the new year by going into the spa on the first day of the year. 

Lake Tahoe 2013

Between Christmas and New Years, we went up to Lake Tahoe to spend time with my parents, sister, brother-in-law and nephew. I can't even begin to describe what an amazing vacation it was. Just being with my family was all I could ask for - but then topped with watching the kids playing in the snow, going sledding and being with their cousin was icing on the cake. 

Christmas 2013

We had a grand Christmas.... all morning was spent with the kids opening presents, setting up the electronics, getting the toys out of all the plastic wrap and just playing. It was relaxed and we just relished in the joy of it all. For dinner, we went to Scott's sister's house for dinner, where the kids got to play with their cousins. 

Christmas celebrations

Throughout the month of December, we've done so many Christmas celebrations that I'm running out of time to post for each and every event, so I'm combining all into one....

Christmas Tree Shopping
We found our tree at the lot fairly quickly, had an older gentleman help us trim the bottom (and provide me extra timings for decorations) and tied the tree down to the top of the car... or so we thought. About half way home, driving up a hill, the tree falls off the car! Fortunately, a very nice person driving a flat bed truck, stopped and took our tree home for us. Craziness! But the tree is perfect in our family room - just the right height and width.

Christmas Tree Decorating
We had the tree for 3 days before I had time to put lights on it, then 3 more days before we could decorate it. This year, the kids are old enough to put most of the ornaments on the tree themselves. Only one ball ornament broke! There was something special about trimming the tree this year. Maybe with the kids being older, or being in a new house, it just was a very memorable moment.

Present Wrapping
For my company's holiday party, the kids spent the night at the neighbors, which meant I had a free, no-kid morning.... in which, I wrapped the majority of the presents. When the kids came home and saw the bottom of the tree filled with presents, Jack said, "Now it feels like Christmas morning." Best words ever.

Cookie Decorating and Gingerbread House
Friday night with the neighbors and friends meant sharing the Gingerbread House making tradition. We had 4 girls and 2 boys but the gingerbread kit only had 4 homes. Jack decided to just let the girls make the gingerbread house. A sign of giving and thinking of others?

Brooke's School Celebrations
Brooke had her Kindergarten holiday performance at school. She practiced all the songs - all the time - and still continues to sing them all the time. It is a wonderful sound. Her classroom also had a holiday craft party on her last day of school.

Letter from Santa
The kids were jumping for joy when they received their letter from Santa this year. I was amazed in watching Jack read his entire Santa letter. This year, Brooke really understand the nice vs. naughty list, which Santa did touch upon in his letter.

Seeing Santa and Mrs. Clause
Every year since Jack came home, we go to the Irvine Regional Park, ride the train and see Santa. The kids expect it now but the wonder of it all is still amazing. We put on our Santa hats and the kids discuss what they are going to ask Santa for. This year, we had a bonus - reading time with Mrs. Clause.

The Boat Parade

I love this tradition.... walking on the boat docks and watching the decorated boats cruise by. The favorite this year was the fire breathing dragon decorated boat. 

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving was different this year… we hosted for a change, in a new house, with less people. Usually Thanksgiving is at a family member’s house but this year, we hosted. But we hosted for only a small handful of family members. Although we missed seeing other family members, there were a few benefits to having it be small.

For one, Scott was able to come out in the morning to meet up with friends and play some football – before he slaved away cooking the turkey and stuffing for the rest of the afternoon. Second, we were able to comfortably fit everyone around our table. Third, the kids got their oldest cousin, Mikaela, all to themselves. Mikaela helped Brooke with her upcoming “star of the week” birthday celebration at school and she made rainbow loom bracelets with Jack (“THE” craze right now for elementary school kids). And of course, more left overs!